A Word from Us

Charity Design Tip – Table of Contents, does your newsletter really need one?

This week we continue to look into some important elements that help make up a good charity newsletter. This week’s topic looks into what our opinion is on the use of contents pages.

As much as we would like to think that as soon as a charity’s newsletter hits their supporter’s doorstep, the response is to pick it up and read it cover to cover, the reality is that they may just flick through it or go directly to the information or story that they want to read.

By including a table of contents, usually on the front page, which lists articles and special sections of the newsletter by page number, it gives the reader easy access to any article that they want to go directly to.

Our experience when working with charities has led us to believe that because charities can often be conducting a number of projects, their supporters are often interested in a particular project that appeals to them. By using a table of contents you can announce to the recipients that in this issue is an update on a project that you are interested in. This in turn will entice the recipient to read the article and increase the connection that they have with you as a charity.

The next tip will be looking at how a good use of headings can make all the difference to the readability of your publication.

Charity Design Tip – Giving your newsletter an identity

Last week we discussed printed vs. digital newsletters: over the next couple of weeks we are looking into the important elements that make up a good Charity Newsletter.

The best way for me to do this is to give you pointers to help you on the way:

Give your newsletter a name

We always recommend to new and existing clients that they give their newsletters a name; this gives the publication its own identity and a lot more promotional clout. We always recommend that the name of the newsletter is in the nameplate: this is the top banner on the front of a newsletter that identifies the publication. By giving your newsletter its own identity it becomes a bigger part of your charity. It is the voice of the charity and should shout, “Look what we are doing with your support”, but also “Please keep supporting us so we can keep making a difference”.

Here are some good examples of where charities have given a unique identity to their newsletter by giving it a name:

	FARM-Africa We design and produce on a quarterly basis FARM-Africa’s newsletter very cleverly named ‘From The Field’.
	Dogs Trust The Dogs Trust is a very large charity and has many different projects, which often have their own supporter base. The Dogs Trust names its newsletters accordingly: two newsletters we design and produce for them are ‘Hope News’ for the Hope Project and ‘Freedom News’ for the Freedom Project.
	Tearfund Tearfund have a quarterly publication called ‘Teartimes’. This has become a big part of their marketing mix and consistently shows good returns once sent out.
	NSPCC Again, a good example of how a large charity which has lots of newsletters relating to different campaigns has named its publications accordingly. Here for example, is their newsletter ‘Relay’ which is specifically about their campaign for Child Protection in Sport.

The next tip will be looking at contents pages, myths, facts and more.

Charity Design Tips – Digital vs. Printed charity newsletters

With a big push on digital media, people often think that there is no longer any need for printed charity newsletters.

In our experience, printed newsletters are a vital tool to keep you connected with your supporters and sustain your fundraising throughout the year. They remind your supporters that you are still there, and show progress and success stories. Our clients all report good results when they send out printed newsletters.

Digital e-newsletters are very useful for short sharp updates, for getting urgent information out quickly. However, if you want your supporters to sit down with a cup of tea and read your news at length, then a well-designed, printed newsletter will do the job nicely! And who knows, a future supporter may pick it up to read too!

Next week’s Charity Design Tip… how to design a good charity newsletter.

Get good print results for your charity

There is nothing worse for us as designers than seeing a charity get their marketing material professionally designed but then cut corners by printing the material on their office printer. This often seems like a good idea but the reality is that the printing standard you end up with is poor and the amount you spend in consumables (ink cartridges and paper) can often amount to the cost of getting the material printed professionally.

This week’s Charity Design Tip looks to help you choose the right printing process to get the most cost effective quotes when getting your charity’s promotional material printed professionally.

When looking at printing promotional material it is important to understand there are two main types of printing available, lithographic and digital. Lithographic printing is mainly used when you require high volumes of printed materials. The quality of lithographic printing has historically been much better than digital but in the past decade the standard of professional digital printing has increased rapidly. Digital printing gives charities an excellent opportunity to print smaller quantities without the set-up fees of lithographic printing.

The best way for me to help you understand whether you should use digital or lithographic printing is to break them down separately.

Digital printing:

1. Digital printing can let you specify whether you want to print one or lots of units with no set-up fees, whereas lithographic printing has high set-up fees and is only cost effective for larger print runs. So with a charity’s print run of 100 leaflets, digital printing can offer a very competitive quote.

2. Paper is measured in GSM (grams per square metre): the lower the number the lighter the paper. An average business card is printed on 300gsm paper whereas your average leaflet is printed on 120gsm. Digital printing can usually only print up to 300 gsm whereas lithographic can print on heavier card if required.

3. Digital printing has very quick turnaround so if you need your leaflet in a hurry this could be the option for you.

4. Most printing jobs are printed in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). Some charity logos specify pantone colours: these are special solid colours and cannot be printed on a digital press as digital printing only prints in CMYK.

Lithographic printing:

1. Lithographic printing is the right choice for printing high quantities of units. Using this printing method can seriously reduce the cost per unit.

2. A lithographic press usually prints straight CMYK jobs but has the ability to add a special solid pantone colour, so if your charity has a specific corporate colour this can be catered for whereas with digital printing this is unavailable.

To conclude, if you have a small quantity of units to print, digital printing will give you the most cost effective quotes. If you require over 500 units lithographic printing may be the best way forward to bring the cost per unit down.

The most important thing to say is get at least three quotes. The cost of printing can vary depending on the printer: some printers are set up to handle large print runs, some specialise in smaller print runs. Also get to know your printer: if you don’t feel you are in good hands there are plenty of other printing companies who would want the work.

This may sound like a plug for agencies, but sometimes with your most important jobs, get your agency to handle the print. They know what to look for when proofing a document and where to find the most cost effective quotes; but like us I am sure they will always be happy to help if you have any questions about sourcing print yourselves.

Clear and Concise

One problem we often find when a new charity comes to Adept is that the text they have been using in their printed and digital material does not clearly describe the aims of the charity. This week’s Charity Design Tip explores reasons to be clear and concise when writing text for your promotional material.

Take for example a direct marketing leaflet: the recipient wants to know precisely what your aims are as a charity, how you are acting to achieve those aims and how they can get involved.

To do this your aim is to make your charity's marketing copy as concise and readable as you can to help you reach a wide audience. Make sure the content for your charity's leaflet is concise and does not include any unnecessary words – these can get in the way of what you are really trying to say.

The mission statement or strapline should clearly sum up what the charity is all about. This is especially important if the charity’s name has nothing to do with the aims of the charity. For example, Oxfam unwraps its aims by saying ‘leading charity working to end global poverty’. The charity Guide Dogs for the Blind doesn’t need to unwrap its name with a strapline as it is self-explanatory.

Sending out a piece of promotional material that does not clearly define you as a charity by telling the recipient your name, your aims, what you are doing and how they can get involved, is not doing its job. The design of your promotional tools is always important but if they’re not saying the right things they are failing to do their job.

Positive vs. Shock Photography

Whenever we are approached by a new or existing charity who are looking to update their photo library we are asked “What would you recommend, do we focus on the reason why we want people to donate or should we focus on the outcome of our charities work?”

Our advice is always, “Keep Positive”; show photos of how the charity is making a difference. If you wish to show the reality of the problems the charity is wishing to tackle, these should be depicted where it is appropriate (eg. to illustrate the aims of the particular Campaign / Action). No photos should be included purely to shock or disturb.

Your current supporters and potential supporter want to relate to the situation you are taking pictures of, whether it is the building of a school in Africa or the re-homing of an animal that has been badly neglected by its owners. A positive image makes them believe that they can be part of something that makes a difference.

Tips for designing a charity leaflet

This tip will be based around an A4 folded to DL sized 6 page leaflet.

The front cover of the leaflet has to make the recipient want to pick up the leaflet and look inside. Our recommendation is to use a strong relevant image to really grab people’s attention. Working with the image should be a short sharp heading explaining the topic of the leaflet; this is another device to temp the viewer further into the leaflet. Your logo should also be clearly placed on the front, as a vital part of your brand; your logo gives the charity a trusted presence and helps to increase your brand awareness.

The back page of the leaflet should always have the main contact points for your charity. If you wish for the leaflet recipient to visit your website next make sure the website address is clearly visible, if you want them to phone you, make sure they can see which number you want them to call.

For the first page of the leaflet we would recommend a brief introduction paragraph explaining your mission as a charity. This will leave space to feature a case study or prominent quote from someone the charity has helped. This helps the reader to relate to you as a charity and inspire them to help your cause.

All headings throughout the leaflet should be bold, clear and consistent. You are still trying to hold the attention of the reader so make sure they have lots of things to entice them to keep looking. Use images where appropriate, if you are trying to cram images into the leaflet for the sake of someone in the office who took a photo and would love to see it in the leaflet, stop and think whether it is interfering with what you are trying to say, often less is best, especially with a direct mail leaflet.

Try to use the right hand side of the leaflet as a reply form, this allows people to fulfill whatever 'call to action' you are making in the leaflet, whether that is making a donation, offering to volunteer or asking for more information about the charity.

Adept welcome a new addition to the team

The team here at Adept are pleased to welcome Laurence to the fold. Laurence will be joining our expanding website development team from next week. Crossing the divide between website design and build, Laurence has the knowledge of how to design a great looking website and how to translate this into the final product.

With a proven track record of website design and an eagerness to hone his skills, we feel Laurence will not only maintain Adept's high standards but also push them forward.

No doubt we will be cornering him in the coming weeks to get a mug shot for the team page, watch this space...

Animal magic - New identity and website for Holly House

Adept are just putting the finishing touches on the new website for Leeds based veterinary practice Holly House.

Alongside the creation of the website, Adept created a fresh brand identity and styling for a range of printed materials based on some charming animal illustrations. The branding built on this illustrative style which was integrated in to all elements of the brand identity, from the typography to the magazine and website layouts. We also added a range of illustrated animals and created the logos for both the cat clinic and the exotic animal clinic.

The rough illustrative style fits in well with current design trends, and shows Adepts ability and versatility to create excellent design work in a range of different styles.

Examples of the work will be added to the Adept portfolio pages in the near future.

The state of branding today

We stumbled across this interview on design publication Creative Review's website the other day and felt it was worth a mention.

Two major influences in shaping the modern attitudes to branding and corporate identity, Michael Wolff and Wally Olins, are reunited since their time together in the 80's. In the four extracts Wolff and Olins discuss media attitudes to branding and the branding world today alongside discussions on why the work of some modern-day branding consultants is "despicable" and why brand valuation is "entirely bogus"

It does raise some interesting issues and thoughts for anyone interested in design, branding and marketing especially in the face of books like no logo.

Over the coming months, the Adept team will be voicing our own views and feelings on certain aspects of design (whether they get read or not is a different matter) along with tips for companies, and thought that in the meantime this would be a good place to start.

If you get the time, watch these videos as they are well worth it and a lot of lessons can be picked up on what is said, perhaps in relation to your own company.

the videos can be found here: